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Monmouth and Firefighters Ratify Contract

Monmouth's city council and the firefighters union each ratified the three-year contract by a unanimous vote.

Firefighters will receive a 2.5% pay raise each year of the deal.

The city and the union each wanted similar changes in the time-off policies. The city wanted to reduce overtime. The union wanted to reduce the likelihood firefighters would be called in on their days off.

City Administrator Eric Hanson said the major change was to vacation policy.

He said, “It's all allocated on a seniority basis at the beginning of the year so they can plan out, in advance. But then we have provisions in terms of when they can and can't take off additional time, depending on the schedule and staffing.”

He said the firefighters want to be able to spend time with their families for summer activities. Not they can be more confident they won't suddenly be called in.

Hanson said under the previous contract some firefighters would have to be on duty for 48 straight hours to provide proper staffing when others were off.

The city has 14 firefighters in the union.

The contract is retroactive to the first of the month.